Kane sets sights on golden boot

Harry Kane nodding home his fourth goal during Tottenham's 6-1 win at his former club Leicester. Despite extended spells on the sidelines, he is favoured to be the Premier League top scorer for the second straight season.PHOTO: REUTERS

Spurs striker's four goals against Leicester gives him advantage before final fixture

LONDON • Mauricio Pochettino insists there is no chance Harry Kane will be allowed to leave Tottenham after the striker's four-goal blitz in the 6-1 rout of Leicester.

Kane is odds on to finish as the Premier League's top scorer for the second successive season thanks to his lethal display at the King Power Stadium on Thursday.

The England striker now has 26 goals, putting him two ahead of Everton's Romelu Lukaku with one game remaining in the race for the Golden Boot.

It was the kind of performance that Pochettino believes further enhances Kane's reputation as one of the world's best finishers.

Inevitably, Europe's top clubs will be considering mega-money bids for Kane in the close season, but Pochettino has no intention of selling his prize asset at any cost.

"It is very clear we will keep the players we want to keep," he said.

5

Hat-tricks Tottenham striker Harry Kane has scored in the league over two years.

"We are so calm about our key players. They are happy here, we have an exciting project."

Kane's fifth league hat-trick in just over two years took him to 32 goals in all competitions this season, four more than he scored last term and one more than his 31-goal tally in the 2014-15 season.

The 23-year-old would surely have scored more than 40 if he had not missed two chunks of this season with ankle injuries, and Pochettino spoke glowingly about his leading forward's appetite for success.

"We feel so proud of Harry, to score four goals was fantastic," the Argentinian said.

Kane can wrap up the Golden Boot by getting on the scoresheet again in Tottenham's final game at Hull tomorrow and he is already hungry for more after his first professional four-goal haul.

"There has been a bit of build-up on the race for the Golden Boot and I wanted at least one or two to put the pressure on but to get four is amazing," Kane said.

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He also admitted he was driven by his pursuit of Lukaku at the top of the scoring charts.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't," he said. "Now I'm in the driving seat but I'm not resting on my laurels. I'll go to Hull looking to get four more hopefully."

Second-placed Tottenham's total of 83 points is a tally that would have been enough to win the title on eight previous occasions.

But unfortunately for the north Londoners, champions Chelsea have been even more consistent.

And Pochettino hopes the experience will stand them in good stead next term.

"We wanted to improve this season and this type of performance showed we have learnt a lot," the Argentinian said of the match in which South Korean forward Son Heung Min also grabbed a brace.

Ben Chilwell scored Leicester's only goal.

Foxes manager Craig Shakespeare faces talks with the club's Thai owners next week to decide if he will remain in charge and this thrashing was hardly the ideal way to sell his credentials.

"We've come up against a quality side but the disappointing thing is I didn't see enough desire to defend as a team," he said. "I have to take some responsibility for that after changing the formation. If you get beat 6-1, there's no positives."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 20, 2017, with the headline 'Kane sets sights on golden boot'. Print Edition | Subscribe

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